Nuclear-powered container carrier Sevmorput left Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky for Murmansk
The ship is loaded with seafood in refrigerated containers (204 forty-foot equivalent units)
Atomflot’s nuclear-powered container carrier Sevmorput performing a subsidized coastal voyage left the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky for the port of Murmansk on 30 July 2023. The voyage is foreseen by the federal project “The Northern Sea Route Development” under the Comprehensive Plan for Modernization and Expansion of Core Infrastructure (CPMI), says press center of FSUE Atomflot.
The ship is loaded with seafood in refrigerated containers (204 forty-foot equivalent units).
“This year's first subsidized coastal voyage demonstrates the shippers’ readiness to deliver products by the Northern Sea Route,” said Leonid Irlitsa, Director General of FSUE Atomflot. - We left St. Petersburg for the Far East with a 90-pct load and the ship has taken a full load of refrigerated containers from Kamchatka. Our work to attract customers is fruitful. The ship's route and schedule are known to shippers in advance. This lets them plan their work.”
According to the statement, ice situation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is more challenging this summer-autumn navigation season than last year (the eastern part of the Kara Sea is still covered with ice). In spite of this, the Sevmorput nuclear-powered container ship will pass the route without icebreaking support. The crew will promptly receive recommendations from the specialists of GlavSevmorput. It is planned that the passage from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Murmansk will take 14-15 days.
Nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput left for this year’s first subsidized coastwise voyage to the Far East on June 24. The route is Saint-Petersburg – Vostochny Port – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – Murmansk.
In 2022, FSUE Atomflot was announced the winner of the competition to select a company for subsidized coastwise cargo transportation. Two round voyages between the ports of Russia’s European and the Far East were made in 2022. The loading of container carrier Sevmorput for the first voyage to the Far East was 10% and it reached 90% for the second one while the back loading was as high as 46%.
The nuclear-powered container ship “Sevmorput” (named after the Northern Sea Route) was built at Kerch based Zaliv Shipyard in 1988. The Sevmorput is intended for transportation of cargo to the remote northern areas. The ship can break through continuous field ice of up to 1 meter thick at a speed of about two knots and carry some 36,000 tonnes of cargo. With its hull design and strength the ship can operate in the Arctic basin independently or escorted by an icebreaker in more challenging ice conditions.